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More education urged for those with intellectual disabilities

The Lowell Sun

Updated:
04/29/2014 06:32:53 AM EDT

State House News Service

BOSTON -- In what one member described as a "paradigm shift" in how policymakers view the subject, a task force Monday recommended opening up public higher education to all students with intellectual disabilities.

Rep. Thomas Sannicandro, House chair of the Task Force on Higher Education for Students with Intellectual Disability and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ID/ASD), released the task force's report at the Statehouse and predicted reforms, if adopted, could lead to both cost savings in income-support programs and improved outcomes and job opportunities for those affected.

An Ashland Democrat, Sannicandro said the group's recommendations point to a shift away from the view of higher education as something individuals "earn the right to do" by meeting criteria and toward a view based on civic and academic engagement, with campuses playing a role in helping to integrate individuals with intellectual disabilities and open doors to enable them to become economically self-sufficient.

The report notes, "While students without disabilities graduate and exit high school after 12th grade, students with significant disabilities such as ID/ASD typically remain in special education until age 22. These students are left behind, as their peers move on to higher education and the workforce.

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"We're saying that this needs to be opened up," Sannicandro said, touting the success of a pilot program known as ICE (Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment), which supports partnerships between public high schools and public higher-education institutions that facilitate students partaking in college courses and other college life activities.

Charles Desmond, chairman of the state Board of Higher Education, said the task force during its work heard "absolutely compelling" success stories from students with intellectual disabilities and faculty members. He said public higher-education institutions have a role to play in educating young adults with intellectual disabilities. "I'm really excited about the fact that we're recognizing that," he said.

Success in math and science has long been used to measure how students are faring, but Desmond said there's a growing recognition of "multiple intelligences," adding, "We're going to find tremendous capabilities and capacities that we may not have been paying attention to."

An amendment to the $36.2 billion House budget under consideration this week would roughly double funding for the ICE program to $1.5 million, Sannicandro said. He estimated the cost of opening higher education to all students with intellectual disabilities at between $5 million and $7.5 million, and the task force calls for all 29 public higher-education campuses to participate in the ICE program by 2019.

"Not every student has access to the program," Sannicandro said, noting the program started out eight years ago with $2 million in funding.

The report says 75 young adults with ID/ASD were included in higher education this year through the ICE grant program, a "small fraction" of the estimated 3,700 students between 18 and 22 with severe disabilities statewide.

The task force recommendations include calls to allow students who have not passed the MCAS exam to enroll in inclusive credit and non-credit courses and to make students with intellectual disabilities who have exited high school eligible for federal financial aid. Sannicandro has filed a budget amendment eliminating the MCAS requirement for students with intellectual disabilities and autism.

Sannicandro said task force members "learned a lot" during their work.

"The biggest thing we saw was the excitement of educating students in higher education across Massachusetts as well as seeing the outcomes for these students. What we heard is that giving students the opportunity to higher education just literally transformed their lives," he said. "What we saw in the findings of the committee are that we need to make more opportunity for students with intellectual disabilities. We need to remove the barriers that presently exist for students with intellectual disabilities and we need to study what's happening to make sure we're using the best practices."

Cities and towns are currently responsible for education costs associated with serving individuals with intellectual disabilities between the ages of 18 and 22. Municipalities could see savings in that area if there was an effort to expand opportunities through traditional public higher education, he said.

Julia Landau, a task-force member and senior project manager at Massachusetts Advocates for Children, joined Sannicandro at the press conference and called for higher education to open its doors to a group that she said has been "historically excluded."

"Abysmally low rates of employment and high poverty reflect the current failure to prepare young people with intellectual disabilities and autism for independence and self-sufficiency," Landau said in a statement.

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